In the mounting of control levers in the operator's station of a work vehicle, the amount of available space is always of primary concern. The recent trend of replacing mechanical levers and linkages with electronic componentry has alleviated some of the problem, as in instances wherein electrical switches are actuated by the control lever. The switches are connected to a master control unit which will in turn cause the particular component to which it is attached to functionally respond to the command of the control lever. Electrical wiring is often used to replace levers and linkage, and since no housing other than sheathing is required, the wires can be routed to virtually any location without any significant use of space.
While electronic componentry saves space in its connection between the actuating switch and the controlling unit, there still must be a mechanical connection between the control lever and the switch.
In many designs, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,040 assigned to the assignee of this invention, a deficiency in available lateral space requires that the control lever and the switch be mounted in elevationally spaced relationship to each other within a console. If the switch happens to be a rotary switch, a mechanism, such as a bevel gear drive, must be incorporated into the mounting to translate the motion of the control lever into a plane coincident with that of the switch.
The motion translating mechanism, while not requiring any lateral space to speak of, will occupy vertical space within the console by requiring individual mounting and positioning means for the various components.
While the design disclosed in the patent functions satisfactorily, the additional bearings and positioning mechanism required to align the lever, switch, and the motion translating mechanism causes the entire apparatus to become fairly complex and expensive, while still requiring a relatively large amount of overall space within the console.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.